HomeschoolMathonline.com is a powerful free resource for homeschooling students, parents and teachers. The site includes comprehensive math instruction (by John Zimmerman) that mostly focuses on middle and high school mathematics. The goal of the site is to get homeschool students to truly understand the core math concepts and skills that are essential for mastery of college prep math.

Multiple Choice Math Questions The Best Place To Start

On multiple choice questions the best place to start is by looking at the answers. Often times you can eliminate answers or pick up clues on how to select the correct answer by looking at your choices before reading the question. Moreover, there may be times when you can use the multiple choice answers to get a question right even if you don’t know how to solve the problem (like the example below). So when you see a multiple choice question stop and quickly scan the answers before you try to figure out the correct answer.

Below is an example of how you can use this tip to answer a question you don’t know how to do…

Select the solution to the equation

Let’s assume you don’t know how to solve this equation. You can still answer the question by checking each answer into the equation and see what number “balances” the equation making the left value = to the right value.

The number that balances the equation is the right solution…

Let’s try answer “b” by plugging in x=3

OK, x=3 is the correct solution because when we plugged it into the equation and simplified both sides were equal.

So in the end there is a lot of ways to approach a test question but if you can get your child to remember this little tip it will help them greatly on their next math exam.